Blockchain technology could soon become an integral part of the world’s largest basketball league.
According to a report from Sportico yesterday, a group of the National Basketball Association’s richest and most powerful team owners are forming a committee to investigate blockchain use cases for the NBA.
Members known as the Blockchain Advisory Subcommittee are Mark Cuban, Joe Tsai, Ted Leonsis, Steve Pagliuca, Vivek Ranadive and Ryan Sweeney. According to Sportico, the goal of the subcommittee is “to explore ways to integrate blockchain across the league’s business”.
Two obvious possible use cases are ticketing and collectibles. Blockchain-based ticketing has made significant strides and now has an active user base. In particular, Mark Cuban has expressed his support for using blockchain to enable his team to make profits from second-hand sales and scalping.
Likewise, blockchain-based collectibles have found an unusually tight product market that suits the highlights and stat-obsessed fans of the NBA. Flow Blockchain’s tradable highlight project NBA Topshot has generated sales of over a quarter of a billion. In addition, the company has several NBA players as investors.
However, in a statement to Sportico, Cuban said the committee was not created in response to the skyrocketing popularity of NBA Topshot, but instead focused on broader applications of blockchain technology.
Cuban has become a familiar name to members of the crypto community. Despite the past of depreciating digital currencies, it has now embraced them – specifically Ethereum protocols and tools like NFTs. After a half-hearted NFT release, on-chain investigators found his address and discovered the billionaire owns a number of DeFi protocol tokens.
According to a recent tweet, his decision to accept Dogecoin for Mavericks tickets and merch appears to have been a success:
The @dallasmavs have made more than 20,000 #Dogecoin in transactions, making them the BIGGEST #DOGECOIN DEALER IN THE WORLD! We thank you all and can only say that #dogecoin will definitely beat $ 1 if we sell more Mavs Merch worth 6,556,000,000 #DOGECOIN !!!
– Mark Cuban (@mcuban) March 6, 2021
Fans might also recognize Vivek Ranadive, the owner of the Sacramento Kings. After buying the team in 2013, he advanced a number of tech-driven and radical ideas, including playing 4v5 and setting up an app that fans can use to vote on the next game. When it comes to blockchain, he was also one of the first to accept crypto for tickets and set up a mining facility in a Kings arena.
